


Fractal, Errors of an Artist

by Inkswirl95



Series: Ficlets, oneshots, and ideas oh my! [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkswirl95/pseuds/Inkswirl95
Summary: What happens when a being of destruction tries to mingle with artists and things abruptly go wrong?
Series: Ficlets, oneshots, and ideas oh my! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673233
Kudos: 5





	Fractal, Errors of an Artist

It's alright, you can do this, just take deep breaths… Even though you have no lungs which makes it pointless.

With a sigh the skeleton with his hood up tried to relax, gripping a sketchbook close to his chest. He tried to push himself to just step through the damn doors, into the traditional artists event, full of so many other artists that made his head spin. He steeled himself for a bit to stop his bones from rattling so much from the anxiousness welling up in his chest from his SOUL. Being around so many people at once...

Come on Fractal, you don't have to go right into the middle of it all. Start at the edge somewhere. One or two people. Just go! He thought to himself as he shook his head, relaxing his body and gathering his courage to go in and stop just standing outside like some weirdo staring in. It wasn’t even that bad, at the entrance he reasoned with himself.

He gave a puff of a sigh before finally pushing open the door, slipping in and listening to the crowd that filled the event center. A place celebrating artists of any kind, monsters, humans. He could even sense other, what were they called Outcodes? Among the people milling about. It gave him a bit more familiarity in the building so he went to the first table, giving his name and getting a sticker saying he was part of the event.

“Thank you, and hope you enjoy yourself Fractal!” the human said with a smile. Fractal nodded giving a small smile back, soon looking to the smaller groups before being waved at by a familiar hand off to the side with a crowd.

“Hey, Fractal, is that you?” Ink called, the other artists around him looking over to see who Ink’s friend was. Fractal calmed himself once more before walking over to join them, “Hey guys, this is Fractal. He’s a bit shy so try not to corner him,” he said gently.

Fractal smiled at him, “Thank you Ink, not surprised to see you here,” he said quietly. Ink chuckled, rubbing the back of his head and soon rambled on about how he was wandering when he stumbled into this world and saw the sign. Fractal chuckled as he went on a tangent about some other times his wanderings got him someplace different from where he was going though forgot some of the details, the others laughing a bit as well before bringing him back to the present.

The artist skeleton’s eyes landed back on Fractal, “Oh, that’s right! What did you bring to show? Can we see, please?” Ink asked after catching sight of the sketchbook in his arms. Fractal glanced at the other books and pages scattered around the table, all incredible works of art from what he could see. He felt a little foolish to share the mini comics and sketches he had, but knew he couldn’t get away from Ink now.

With a bit of hesitation, he handed the book over to Ink, careful not to touch anyone or anything else. He happily took it and opened it, some of the others moving over to see as well. “Wow, you’ve improved a lot!” Ink praised him, making him rub the back of his neck and shuffle a bit in the spot as the others passed the book around to see, careful of the pages.

He saw someone else off to the side, looking between his sketchbook and their own before coming over. “Hey man, your art is great! How do you keep it so clean looking?” they asked, almost looking hopeful.

Fractal flushed a bit at the phrase, “Thank you, and I don’t try to put too many elements into one piece, don’t like to overcrowd it,” he answered. They nodded and pulled their work closer.

“Do you think you could help me then? Please?” they asked with a smile. He was practically screaming on the inside that someone asked him to help, but kept his composure as he looked over their work. It was a complicated piece, and a lot of colors were added as well. He started asking them if what they wanted was so much going on with the page, giving some suggestions as to what to do for next time.

It went on for a while like that, with others coming to look at what he had and asking for advice for their pieces. One goat woman was particularly excited and enthusiastic. Maybe a bit too enthusiastic because before he could stop himself he found his fingers touching the page… And most of it gone. It went quiet.

His SOUL sank, voices were already yelling at him. Telling him he was nothing but a fake, a scam. He should have never come here. He didn’t even hear Ink who was trying to calm him down as he was shaking, taking quick breaths and stepping away. All he could see was sadness in the goat woman’s eyes.

“I’m sorry.” he whispered, and like that, made his way back to his and Media’s house, going to his room and locking himself in without even glancing at Media who was asleep, limbs all stretched out on the couch with some book over his face. For the next couple of hours he spent in his room he was using his magic strings to fidget with and to keep from lashing out in the room. Thoughts kept running through his mind.

He was jarred out of it when the door slammed open with the song All Star blasting from a stereo and Media dancing in, singing along and laughing, getting the other into a hold and spinning him. Fractal was dizzy from the suddeness of it all before he was sat on his bed to hold his head.

“Hey dude, c’mon, tell me what happened,” Media said, sitting down on the other bed in the room, bouncing a bit as he did after shutting off the stereo. Fractal took a breath before sighing.

“I… I went to that convention… And for a while it was nice… Talking and giving people advice for not cluttering the page so much…” he said quietly and Media perked up at that.

“Really? That’s awesome!”

“No, it’s not! I ruined someone’s art! I just… I ruin everything I touch…” he said, groaning and putting his face into his hands. Media frowned, coming and sitting by him and carefully putting an arm around his shoulders.

“Mistakes happen Fractal… And I’m sure it was an honest mistake. I bet you anything they knew it too. You don’t ruin everything either. If you did, I’d have starved a while ago,” he said with a laugh, Fractal smiling ever so slightly back, “You can’t let one little mistake take over the whole day for you. Maybe go and apolo-”

“Media, are you here? Is Fractal home?”

Both boys looked to the door where they heard Ink calling out to them. Media pat his back a couple of times before getting up and heading towards the front door, “I’m coming!” he called back, closing the door behind him leaving Fractal to pull a blanket over himself to help relax.

After a few minutes there was a knock at the door, Fractal getting up and opening it slightly. He froze, seeing it was the goat woman from earlier holding his sketchbook. “Miss, I’m so so-”

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay. I’m not mad, Fractal. I promise. Ink explained it to me, and I just wanted to come and say how brave and strong you are,” she said with a soft smile. Fractal pulled his hood down again about to reply when she continued, “It’s true. Your powers don’t define you, Fractal. And the fact that you want to create things instead of destroying everything is amazing. Anyway, here’s your sketchbook. Please, don’t give up, you’re an inspiration,” she said gently, smiling and sliding the sketchbook in before heading back to tell Ink she was ready to head home.

Fractal watched as he could before closing the door, leaning on it and sliding down, holding the book to him again and pushed his glasses back up. He then noticed a different paper in the book, opening it and taking it out. It was the artwork he ruined, a self portrait, but at the top was a new sketch of the scene back at the center, with him surrounded by the others and at the top were many peoples’ writings to say not to give up. He teared up a bit at it.

“Ya big ol’ softie~”

A giant whack filled the house.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t peep at other peoples’ things!”


End file.
